Splinters (14 page)

Still watching him, waiting for him to open his eyes, I quickly squirt out more lube and apply it to myself. Why do I feel so…shy? Almost as if, should he look at me now, I’d take my fingers out of myself and pretend I hadn’t been doing what I so obviously am. This man has me off my game in so many ways. He does open his eyes, and I do stop, but his sweet smile and the gentle caress of his fingers on my thighs eases the weirdness inside me.

This is just Duke. Even though it’s been so fast, I know him. I grasp his cock and position myself over it, but before I sit down, I lean over and kiss him. Oh, that’s better. I rest on him a little, feel his hands roam my back, petting me, and the jittery feeling in my gut settles down. When I sit up again, I have no problem looking him in the eyes while I slowly take him into me.

It’s been a while and I could use more prep, but the stretch and burn are good right now. Like the beard rash he left on me last night, this will leave a mark, too. I’ll feel where he’s been all day. The evidence it leaves behind, that’s part of why I so love doing this. Duke’s groans merging with mine, like two notes in the same song, while our eyes feast on each other, takes doing this with him up to a new level of sensual incandescence.

When I’m seated on him, when he’s making me throb from the inside out, I roll my head back and moan long and low while gripping his waist. I take a deep breath, willing myself to relax, and open my eyes when he starts caressing me. He’s breathing fast, too, but he’s gentling me with his hands and his little smile. I want to kiss him, but I settle for rising up to feel the friction of where we’re joined.

“Look at you,” he says, his voice gravelly. “Riding a cowboy.”

I smile at him, and then put on more of a show.

Arms over my head, I bob up and down a couple times. “Yeehaw,” I say with a grin, and he chuckles as his gaze slithers all over me. I slowly bring my arms down, touching myself as I go. The peach fuzz that is my hair is only a sensation now. When I touch my lips while staring into his eyes, he grunts and punches up into me, making me gasp. I tip my head back and caress my throat, feel the vibration of a groan as he keeps thrusting up into me. Down my chest, taking some time to pinch my nipples, and he moans when I push down onto him and rock back and forth instead of up and down. I look him in the eyes and slide my hands all the way to cup my sac and oh so slowly stroke my cock.

He makes a sound like he’s dying, and I smirk to have his whole attention, those whiskey eyes feasting on me. I swivel my hips, grinding us together. He pants hard. Time to really ride my cowboy. I lean over him, braced and ready to take us flying, but he puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Turn around.”

“Huh?”

His cell starts ringing, an old-fashioned phone’s bell. We both look over, and then I’m looking at him. “Ignore it,” he says. “Just get up and turn around.” His hand slides up to cup my cheek. “C’mon, baby, you’ll like it.”

Only because of his wicked grin do I ease up and off of him. I prefer to face my lovers while doing this, keep that connection, but I can’t deny Duke. There’s something less personal about facing away from him as I sit back down on his cock. His hands are soothing as they glide over my back, but it’s all so removed now.

His phone stops ringing.

“Lay back,” he says.

I look over my shoulder at him, and he holds my hip and my shoulder like he’ll catch me. I’ve never done this before and not knowing what to expect makes me suddenly nervous. What is he doing?

But I do lay back, slowly and with his guidance. Very quickly, I feel a giant open vulnerability in this position. My legs splay wide around him, all of me available from nose to nuts, and him wedged impossibly deep inside me.
My God
. I stare at the ceiling, a little dazed, and then he cants his hips, back then up, and a moan flows out of me. His hands roam my body, and I’m instantly drunk on being his so completely right now. Not even if he flipped me over and held me down could he claim me more than he does in this moment. I’m so his.

And I
want it
this way.

“Duke.” My voice sounds desperate, his name punctuated by a cry as he keeps thrusting up into me. “Oh,
God
.”

My arms flail until he grabs hold of me, his arm crossing my chest so he can grip my shoulder. It just reinforces how at his mercy I am right now, like this. I’m panting and moaning, rapidly losing any control. He has it, all of it. Duke is in charge. I’m the passenger…who’s about to come. Distantly, I can hear his phone start up again, and it’s oddly like having a timer go off. Like I’m done and about to boil over.

I can’t reach my cock to stroke myself off, but then Duke’s hand is there—of course he’s there—and every rub of his palm and grip of his fingers is perfect. I reach back, find his hair, hear his moans right in my ear. I’m wiggling, writhing, until the ecstatic wave of heat breaks over me and my whole body goes stiff from pointed toes to arched neck. My yell is lodged in my throat, mouth open but silent, and then I fall like my strings were cut and I suck in a breath instead.

Shivering now, moaning because I can’t do anything else, I’m melted against him as he pounds up, taking me three more times before he’s grunting in my ear, finally spent, too. I stare up at the ceiling.
Holy shit
. What just happened?

He’s winded. I’m ravaged. His breathing moves me up and down, and I know I should get off of him because I’m just dead weight now. But tears slip from the corners of my eyes and over my temples. I’m made immobile by shocking pleasure and devastating…grief. I can’t let this man go. Why did I ever think I could? And it’s not just the sex; I’ve had fantastic encounters before this. It’s more. It’s…
him
.

Apparently, Duke’s far less overwhelmed because he puts his hands under my ass and slowly lifts me. I groan all through the drag of his cock leaving. Will he go now? Will he leave?

Please, Duke, not yet
.

He sets me back down on top of him, but then rolls to his side while gripping me close to his big body. I feel the sweat and stickiness now. Should I go clean up? Should I stay right here for as long as he’ll let me? He curls around me, one arm holding me, and kisses my ear.

“You all right?”

My voice croaks when I try to answer. I clear my throat and try again. “Y-yes.”

“Al.”

“I’m…” I close my eyes. “Don’t leave yet, okay?”

But he leans away, and I’m left gulping down emotions I can’t even identify and don’t really want to analyze. It’s been two days! I shouldn’t be so emotionally attached in two damn days. Ah, God, it’s all about Duke. He’s unique. He’s who I want.

A strange noise makes me open my eyes, zeroing in on the trash bin partially beneath the desk. The condom hit the outside of it and is slowly sliding down over the lip before it falls in. Duke leans back around me, tucking us together. He peppers the side of my head and my shoulder with small kisses. I close my eyes again. Not leaving, just getting comfortable. I sigh in relief and comfort, threading our fingers together against my chest. I just need a few more minutes.

“You’re right,” he says, “they can spare me for the day.”

But then his phone rings yet again.

uke and I walk into the single story, beige building that is the Angelina County Sheriff’s Department and are immediately waved back to Smoot’s office. I’m growing more anxious with every step. Smoot’s receptionist was vague when Duke finally answered his phone. No reason given, just a request to please come down to talk with Smoot regarding the case.

Does he have new information? I want to call Elsie, but not without knowing what’s going on. No upsetting the patient unnecessarily. Maybe Smoot just wants… Damn it. I have no idea.

Smoot’s door is open, and Duke lets me poke my head in first. It’s a good thing Smoot’s smiling, right? And asking us to come in and sit? It can’t be too bad. He has Duke close the door and offers us drinks. We decline, and I just have to get to the point.

“Has something happened?” I grip the arms of my chair.

Smoot turns around a laptop on his desk. “I’d like y’all to watch this video the boys from Houston sent over.” He taps the trackpad to start the video.

I take a shaky breath as I realize this might be footage of me being drugged and abducted. And then, there it is, the inside of the hotel’s lounge. The camera seems designed to watch the register at the bar, but my booth is opposite there and at a fine angle to show me sitting by myself. I’m twirling something in my fingers as I gaze out the dark window, oblivious to the approaching danger.

It’s like watching a horror movie. I want to holler at the screen for the blurry version of me to run away. I cover my mouth with both hands like I’m praying and realize there are tears on my face.

On the screen a man approaches me and… That’s Duke. The picture isn’t crystal clear, but the size, shape, coloring… That’s
Duke
standing beside my table and talking to me. That’s
Duke
handing me a drink. He’s sliding into the booth opposite me, chatting me up, and— Oh, Christ, there I am sipping the drink he’s bought me, sealing my fate.

I can’t catch my breath as I stare at the man beside me still.

“Stop,” Duke says and sounds utterly miserable. “Al, don’t look at me like that. It’s not
me
.”

“Wh-who?”

“Dean’s my twin brother.” Duke’s face crumbles and he gasps a sound very near a sob. “That’s
him
. Oh, God, Al. I’m so sorry. And Elsie… Oh, Jesus.” His golden brown eyes are bright with unshed tears before he looks away and covers his face.

So, okay, Dean is Duke’s
twin
brother. It wasn’t Duke in the video, but Dean. I take a few deep breaths and reach over to pat Duke’s arm in… Well, I’m not sure if it’s in sympathy or reassurance or some kind of solidarity. I mistook one brother for the other. It could happen in…any…circumstance.

“Oh, my God.” I gasp as it occurs to me that I might’ve seen
Dean
, not Duke, last night outside my room. “I think I saw him,” I whisper. I clear my throat when all eyes land on me. “Last night, before I— Um, got up.”

“When you came to my room?”

Apparently, he doesn’t mind if Smoot knows, so I nod. “Someone peeked into my room. I thought it was you and I got upset because you didn’t come in, so I went after you.”

Smoot taps his pen on his desk. “I take it no one was in the hall?”

“No one.” I squirm in my seat. “Then, when I got to Duke’s room, I was distracted from realizing I’d woken him up by coming in. So it couldn’t have been him in the hall. It didn’t occur to me until this morning, but then…everything happened.”

Dean had been
right there
. Had he wanted to snatch me again, but went after Elsie because she’d been alone?
My fault
. Oh, God, it was all my fault.

Smoot waggles his pen back and forth, almost like an eager puppy’s tail. Looking at me, he asks, “Any other times you thought it was Duke but somethin’ wasn’t quite right?”

I roll my eyes up to the ceiling, maybe in a bid for strength. “Duke, did you see Elsie and me wave to you yesterday afternoon?”

“When was that?”

“You popped out of the trees behind the house.”

I look at him to see him squinting at me through wet lashes. “I wasn’t back there yesterday. There’s no reason for anybody to— Ah, hell.”

I glance at Smoot, who’s taking more notes. “It had to have been Dean. Again. God, I didn’t even notice a thing.” I touch Duke’s arm. “Like your clothes? I should’ve noticed if those were different, you know?”

Duke takes hold of my hand. “You had no reason to be suspicious. None of us did. I’ve been worried about the bastard this whole time.”

“You didn’t know,” I assure him. “You had no way of know—”

“Hold on now,” Smoot says. “Vaughn’s already been out to the ranch and he’s bringing Mia in. She’s under arrest.”

“Mia?” Duke stands up. “Under arrest for what?”

Smoot gets up, too, and I can feel my blood pressure rising all over again while watching them face off over the desk.